FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lesley Sillaman
June 1, 2004 (202) 225-3661
Statement of the Hon. Rosa DeLauro on $10 Billion Accenture Government Contract
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) today released the following statement in response to news reports that Accenture, a technology and management company who has their headquarters in Bermuda to avoid paying US taxes, has been awarded a $10 billion border security contract with the Department of Homeland Security. DeLauro has authored legislation that would prevent companies who use tax shelters to avoid paying taxes to receive government contracts from the Department of Homeland Security. She successfully offered an amendment to do just that in July 2002 during consideration of the Homeland Security Act, but it was watered down before the bill was signed into law .
“I am deeply disappointed that the Department of Homeland Security has awarded $10 billion of the taxpayers’ money to a company that refuses to pay its own federal taxes. Accenture, and other companies like it, have used loopholes in the tax system to shirk their duties to the United States, by incorporating, on paper, in other countries like Bermuda.
“These companies enjoy all the benefits of corporate citizenship in America - they look like U.S. companies, the principle market their stock is traded in is the United States, and their physical assets are protected by our armed forces. They just refuse to pay for the benefits - as every other U.S. citizen and company does.
“It is outrageous and it is wrong to reward these companies for abandoning our country -- particularly from the very department charged with safeguarding our homeland security as we work to pay for the ongoing war on terrorism. The United States government should not be doing business with those who want all the benefits of citizenship without any of the responsibilities that come along with it.”
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